ProPoc Description ================== This document gives a short description of the main features of ProPoc V2. It does not intend to replace the printed user manual which is shipped with the product. Explanation of terms: File ---- Each file can contain up to: 15 projects 224 activities (and summary tasks (PROF)) 56 milestones 15 resources 7 locations + global (PROF) 1 set of preferences(alarm, mode, calendar) Time base (PROF): Days: default, for long term projects Hours: for short term projects (weeks) Minutes: for very short term projects (1-2 days) Project ------- Name: a unique name Description: up to 255 characters of text WBS: Work breakdown structure specification. To edit WBS move the cursor to the description field and press Enter. Rank: 1 for high, 15 for low Ranks are unique! High ranks wins in resource conflicts. Disabled: (PROF) Set to YES to study the effect of dropping the project. Disabled projects are not considered in overall cashflow analysis, or overall resource schedules. They are not used as prerequisites, and do not allocate resources. They are not printed with "print all projects" functions, are not exported to spreadsheeds. Start Date: Official project start date. Location: (PROF) A specific location can be assigned to a project. If a non-global location is specified, constant load resources are not allowed to be used on different locations during the same time interval. Alarm: Set to YES for a second screen to specify which events will generate alarms. End date: Computed end date for project. Total duration: Given in absolute dates and workdays Critical: List of critical activities Hot milestones: List of milestones where the actual date is higher or equal the planned date. Links: Links to prerequisite projects Depending: Projects depending from this project Total costs: Accumulated fix costs and resource costs. Budget: Planned total costs for project. Two budget figures will be shown in the project statistics: 1. Budget as entered for project 2. Budget computed from activity budgets. Outline mode (PROF) ------------------- The outline mode shows all projects in graphic or table mode, similar to activities in detail mode. Navigation in outline mode is similar to navigation in detail mode. Most operations that are available in detail mode can be applied in outline mode as well. - Link a project to another project. The start of the project will depend on the end of the prerequisite project. The project statistics display prerequisite and depending projects. - Attach a document to a project - Attach a HyperPoc card to a project - Find projects by name, description, prerequisites, or resources. - Use graphical resource schedule and cashflow analysis. Switch between Outline and Detail mode with CONTROL-TAB. Task ---- Can be an activity, a milestone, a subproject, or a summary task Name: must be unique within a project Description: up to 255 characters of text WBS: Work breakdown structure specification To edit WBS move the cursor to the description field and press Enter. Subproject file: Names the file containing the subproject details and Time and date when the subproject file was last saved. Lead, Lag: A number of workdays before/after the task actually begins/ends. No resources are allocated during the lead/lag time. A negative lead/lag value can be used to overlap depending activities. Constraint: Start No Earlier Than As Late As Possible Must Start On As Soon As Possible Finish No Earlier Than Start No Later Than Must Finish On Finish No Later Than Target date: To edit the target date move the cursor to the constraint field and press Enter. Duration: Duration of Activity in workdays (hours,minutes). Priority: Used to resolve resource conflicts within a project. (1 is high, 99 is low). Scheduling: Duration driven: The activity lasts for the defined duration and allocates its resources for the whole duration. When resource overload occurs the activity is postponed. Effort driven: The activity lasts no longer than the defined duration. When resource overload occurs the activity is postponed. When resource underload occurs the activity increases its load on the resource and reduces the actual duration, i.e. the activity will end earlier. Example: An activity with 10 days duration and 50% resource load and no competition from other activities will actually last only 5 days and will use 100% of the resource. Load of: Percentage (0-100) of how much the resource is used by the task. Fix Costs: Setup costs for activity. Arithmetic expression allowed. Budget: Planned total costs for activity. Arithmetic expression allowed. Links: List of tasks the current task depends on. Start date: Computed start date for an activity. Activites in other projects with higher priority can influence the start date when they compete for the same resources. End date: Computed end date. Slack: Number of days, the activity is allowed to float. Activites in other projects with higher priority can influence the slack days when they compete for the same resources. An task with zero slack is called critical. A task with a negative slack is called overdue. Links ----- To define a link to a prerequisite activity or subproject use the Link function. Then navigate to the desired activity and press Enter. ESC will cancel the link mode. Specify Finish to Start (FS) or Start to Start (SS) and a lag value. To remove or modify links, use the Unlink function. You can also use the link function to place a task into a summary task. Subprojects (PROF) ------------------ Subprojects are defined with the Insert function and selecting subproject. The subproject file must have been declared previously as a subproject (Preferences, File Links) A subproject is updated during each Open of the main file. To open the subproject file, position the cursor on the subproject and press PSION-O. Note: Subprojects can impose a workload on resources. However, resource clashes cannot back-influence the subproject. The subproject file does not contain information about resource competition - when a subproject file is calculated it has all resources for itself. Masterfiles (PROF) ------------------ Master files can be used to inherit Calendars and Resources. (Preferences, View). This includes weekdays, holidays, calendar exceptions, all resource data including resource calendars. If a master file is set, its Calendar and resource information will overwrite the local information during each Open. Attached documents -------------------- Tasks and projects can have attached WORD documents. Press PSION-+ or Shift-ENTER to activate the WORD processor and open the associated document (a new document is created if it did not exist). Then edit the document in the usual way (you may even print it). Leave the WORD processor with PSION-X and you are back in ProPoc. You can delete an associated document with PSION--. Associated documents are deleted, too, when the task or the whole project is deleted (PSION-D or PSION-V). Associated documents are stored under the following pathname: project_folder\project_file\itmname.WRD for instance, an associated document for task REGIST in project PROPOC would be stored in LOC::M:\PROJ\PROPOC\REGIST.WRD. Identical named tasks will access the same document. If the task name contains characters other than letter, numeric digit or underscore, the task is identified by a unique task ID. In this case identical named tasks will access different documents. ProPoc PROF can merge associated documents into its own WORD output documents. Resources --------- Name: Unique resource name Capacity: (PROF) Capacity of resource, e.g. number of staff members Specify a capacity for each resource (0.1-100.0), for instance the number of staff members in a group. The capacity is displayed in project schedules in paranthesis. The default capacity is 1 Example: Changing the capacity from 1 to 2 will divide all load values for that resource by 2. Load: (PROF) - constant. The workload of a activity will be applied as a constant load. When the utilisation exceeds 100% the activity is postponed. - flexible. When the utilisation exceeds 100%, the work- load for that day is reduced and compensated for at other days. The activity is only postponed if the compensation fails. This allows to interrupt and resume activities that do not use the resource for 100%. Example: Proj1, Activity 1: Start: Day 5, Duration: 2, Load: 80% Proj2, Activity 2: Start: Day 1, Duration: 10, Load: 50% Using "constant" mode Activity 2 would have to wait until day 7. Using "flexible" mode Activity 2 starts at day 1, with a load of 50%. During Day 5 and 6, it only gets 20%. This is compensated with a 100% load at day 7 and a 60% load at day 8. Flexible mode resources can be used for effort driven activities, too. In this case the activity will use as much as it can get from the resource and will finish as soon as all work is done. In case the nominal duration would be exceeded, the activity is postponed. Note: In resource schedules flexible resource can have peak utlisations of more than 100%. Cost per workday: Resource costs in cost per day Overtime surcharge: (PROF) The surcharge is defined in percent and is applied to all periods where a availability of more than 100% has been defined. Example: Availability has been set to 120%. Overtime surcharge was set to 50% Nominal day rate was set to 1000 Resulting day rate is 120%*1000+20%*50%*1000 = 1200+100 = 1300 rated: - full time (100% during when used) - shared in project (100% but shared between activities) - shared overall (100% but shared between activities) - part time (as defined in Resource load) Cost per activity: This is amount is charged once for each activity that uses the resource. Note: You can enter arithmetic expressions into all Cost fields. Resource calendar (PROF) ------------------------ Define up to 40 calendar events for each resource. Note, that public holidays and weekends are defined in the global calendar, not in the resource calendar. The resource calendar can define changes to the availability of a resource in for repeating weekdays or for defined periods. It is possible to define reduced availability (<100%) for vacations, sickness, etc. and increased availability (>100%) for overtime work (up to 150%). Activities are not charged for times of inavailibility. It is possible to create resource calendar entries from the PSION AGENDA, to reflect the inavailibility for project work due to meetings, etc. The function will evaluate the average percentage of availibility in specified intervals. All appointment type entries including crossed out ones are considered. The percentage is computed from the length of the appointments compared to the amount of "work hours per day" specified. You can update the calendar entries by reapplying the function. You can make the entries permanent by editing them - they will loose the remark "Agenda". Define the AGENDA file used in Preferences (AgendaLink). Preferences =========== The preferences are file specific. Mode ---- Reorder: For small projects choose "automatic". For big projects it is better to use "manual" and to call the Reorder function from time to time. Resource: Set to "yes" to resolve resource conflicts (resource levelling). Set to "no" to compute project plan without resolving resource conflicts. This may result in resource utilisations far beyond 100%. "Ignore for slack": same as "yes", but slack days are computed without looking for possible resource conflicts. Charge all/completed work: Affects cost evaluation. Warning on constraint violation: A warning can be given if the constraint date is violated with the following constraints: Must Start On Start No Later Than Must Finish On Finish No Later Than View ---- Show: all/activity/milestone/subproject This filter restricts the set of displayed items. (PROF) It works for each display mode separately. but only: critical/closed/open/in progress/cost > budget/constraint violation This filter restricts the set of displayed tasks in table mode (PROF) PERT-1: PERT-2: Display options for PERT mode. Show Links: Yes/no When set to "yes", links between tasks are shown. Show Grid: Yes/no Shows gridlines at weekstart when set to "yes" Format ------ Date format: alpha/numeric Alpha displays month name (3 letters). The order (DMY,MDY ...) is taken from the system settings. Currency: File specific currency to be displayed with costs and budgets. Font: Different screen fonts to be selected small/normal/big (S3), 13 system fonts (S3a) Table definition ---------------- Define the columns of up to 8 tables: Screen display, printer output, text file output, WORD file output. One set for each detail/outline mode. Table styles ------------ Load/save all current table definitions, filter and font settings from/to file. Table style files are exchangable between different project files. Alarm ----- Alarm handler: (PROF) Use the S3a-agenda instead of Morpheus to generate alarms. The advantage is that the alarms are shown in the agenda. Agenda file: File name (PROF) AGENDA file for import of resource calendar events and export of project alarms. File links ---------- Subproject: Set to yes if you plan to import this file into another file as a subproject. Closing a file will take more time. Masterfile: See above. Specify the name of the master file. Weekends -------- Define which days are restdays and which days are workdays. By default the system workdays/weekends are used. Holidays -------- Define which of the custom holidays are restdays in this project. By default all global holidays are disabled. (see Public holiday file) Exceptions ---------- Overrides weekend and holiday definitions. Global holiday file ------------------- A selection of nationalised holiday settings is contained in the installation package. Use this function to "roll your own". The global holiday file is valid for all project files on the same machine. Set holidays to "Always", "Never", "Custom". "Custom" days can be set individually in each project. (see above) Algorithm: (see user manual) Locations --------- ProPoc PROF allows to set up 7 different locations. Activities can be either global or can be assigned to a specific location. ProPoc will make sure that resources are not used in different locations at the same time. Display ======= The screen shows a window to the current project or an outline of all projects. Switch projects with PSION-T or the TAB key. Switch between outline and detail with CONTROL-TAB Switch resource display with CAPS-TAB Switch the Statuswindow on or off with CONTROL-MENU. Switch the Display mode (normal/condensed/table/PERT) with DIAMOND. If a task has an associated document the cursor is displayed as a rectangle, otherwise as a triangle. Graphic mode (normal/condensened) --------------------------------- Navigate along the time axis with the cursor keys. The PSION key accelerates. PSION-Shift goes to the begin or end. The CONTROL key scrolls without moving the cursor. CAPS will restrict navigation to critical tasks. Little arrows in the bottom/top left corners indicate if there are more lines outside the window. The project name is found in the bottom right corner of the main window. Activities are displayed as horizontal solid 1-pixel lines, if critical as solid 2-pixel lines. The name of the activity is found below the line. Projects are displayed as solid 2-pixel lines (1-pixel line if disabled). The completed part of a task is displayed grey. Milestones are displayed as vertical dotted 1-pixel lines, if critical as solid 1-pixel lines, if overdue as solid 2-pixel lines. In this case a dotted line to the left at the bottom of the vertical line indicates the delay. The name of the milestone is found to the right at the bottom of the vertical line. A calendar is displayed at the bottom and top of the screen. The week start is marked. Restdays (weekends and public holidays) are greyed out. During link mode a line is drawn between source and target. If the cursor sits on an activity you can use the <> keys to modify the activity duration. Table mode ---------- Navigate along the time axis with the up/down cursor keys. Scroll with the Left/right cursor keys. The PSION key accelerates. Modifiable fields are highlighted when the cursor moves. Press ENTER to modify a field. You can restrict the set of displayed tasks in table mode using filters (Preferences, View). (PROF) You can customise the table setup with Preferences-Table definition. PERT mode --------- Navigate along the time axis with the cursor keys. The PSION key accelerates. The CONTROL key scrolls without moving the cursor. CAPS will restrict navigation to critical tasks. Little arrows in the bottom/top left corners indicate if there tasks outside the window. The project name is found in the bottom right corner of the main window. Activities are displayed as plain boxes, milestones as boxes with an additional vertical line at the end. If the task is critical, the name is printed in bold. Two attributes are shown above and below the box. By default these are start and end date, but you can select any attribute via Preferences, View (separately for Detail and Outline mode). If you select "Resource" the resource most used by the activity is shown. Closed tasks are crossed out. Partially closed tasks are crossed with a single line. During link mode a line is drawn between source and target. Reporting ========= Resource schedule, task list Resource schedule, cumulated list Lists resource utilisation for tasks or events. Use Zoom function and left/right cursor keys to adjust time window. Cashflow analysis (PROF) Lists Budget and Costs cumulated over time. Use Zoom function and left/right cursor keys to adjust time window. Bottleneck analysis (PROF) Lists delays per resource - whole file (last project) - current projects - current task (detail mode only) Baseline review (PROF) Lists changes in start/finish (workdays) and costs for - each task (detail mode) - each project (outline mode) All reports are shown on screen in a scrollable window. All reports can be printed to printer, TXT or WRD-file. When printing to WRD-file, associated documents can be merged in (PROF) All reports can be exported to spreadsheet (WKS, SPR, SPR with graphics) (PROF) ProPoc will choose the most appropriate graphic format. All reports are hotlinked. Position the cursor on an item in the list, press ENTER to jump to that item, or enter a hotkey or menu function. ESC leaves the report. Troubleshooting --------------- You cannot change the status of a task. Check the prerequisites of the that task. As long as they are not 100% completed you cannot modify a tasks status. Costs do not appear in project statistics or cashflow analysis. Check Preferences-Mode: Charge all/completed. Resource levelling does not work. Check Preferences-Mode for the resource option. Alarms are not ringing or are ringing at the wrong time: Alarms are only updated when ProPoc is exitted, or when a new project file is opened. Please exit ProPoc and restart. Removing all alarms: We recommend not to delete file ALRM.$$$. This would also delete alarms set with other ...Poc applications such as HyperPoc. ProPoc would also recreate the file in the next session. Instead, go to Preferences-Alarms and switch the alarm handler off. A dialogue box with an error message appears: Try to continue work by pressing Enter. If the dialogue box appears repeatedly, abort ProPoc by pressing ESC. Restart ProPoc. Error messages occur when a file is opened. The file may be damaged. Try to open a backup copy of your file. ProPoc freezes (does not respond any more). Press the system button, and use the Kill-function to stop ProPoc. You will not loose data as ProPoc saves all modifications immediately. The system freezes (does not respond to System button). You have to soft reset your system. Use a pin to press the reset button. (Small hole above the ESC key). After resetting press Esc. You will have to reinstall applications, lists and groups, but you will not loose data. Never remove the batteries. This would wipe out your internal disk.